Working Products 2023

In summary

With over 120 participants and speakers, 19 presentations and 8 workshops, it was actually just like always :-)
We are still completely thrilled about the great atmosphere, the many laughing and talking people and the many compliments we got.
The change to June was definitely worth it. Two sunny days at 26°, just perfect. Everything took place outside, only for the lectures and workshops we went inside.
We were again in the Goldbekhaus in Hamburg and again with the catering of the Produktionsschule Altona and the decoration of herbs and bee plants.
The special character of Working Products again came through impeccably in 2023: Familiar, intensive exchange of experiences between all participants. We are sure: In 2023, too, everyone talked to every other participant at some point.

The format

We did not change anything in the format. There were two additional workshops and an Afro-Cuban drum circle on the first evening. At the OpenSpace we held two shorter session blocks instead of one long block. This gave everyone the opportunity to participate in two topics. We'll probably keep that up.
But otherwise, it was always about giving as much space as possible for conversation and exchange. The Speakers Corner was really well attended after each presentation and there was always intense discussion right up to the last minute.

The lectures

Once again this year, the 19 presentations were roughly divided into the two areas of "Product and Team Culture" and "Product Management: Experiences, Tools and Methods". One focus this year was on the topic of "product organization" in larger companies. It was exciting to learn how "product" is organized at Otto (presentation by David Behlich), Tchibo (presentation by Kathleen Theelke and Ulla Klaffs) and at CTS Eventim (presentation by Steffanie Kambach). Anyway, the exchange and detailed questions in the Speakers Corner after each of the presentations was super detailed.
Silke Kanes' plea to value the competencies of colleagues "not yet" working in an agile way was also enriching.
As always at Working Products, there was a Speakers Corner after each presentation. Here the participants could talk shop with the speaker for 30 minutes, ask questions and share experiences. The Speakers Corner was again very well received. Each presentation was packed and we always had to end the discussion because the next presentation was about to start.

The Workshops

Parallel to the lectures and the Openspace we had 8 workshops in the program.
All workshops were very practice-oriented. The range was wide: from Sustainable UX to contract design for agile projects.

OpenSpace

On Thursday afternoon, we collected 12 topics for the OpenSpace sessions, ranging from the "classic: product owner vs. product manager" to A/B testing in international services. We were able to cover 8 topics in two session blocks of 45 minutes. This was a change from previous years. The shorter blocks allowed participants to collaborate on two topics.

Meditation/Mindfulness

We started both days in the morning with meditation and mindfulness exercises. In addition, movement exercises during the lunch break. Meditations and movement exercises were led by Beate Schulte Strathaus (Working Products). Beate co-founded Working Products in 2006 and is a co-organizer of the conference.

Sustainability

Climate protection and sustainability are close to our hearts and we tried to make the conference as sustainable as possible. This year, for example, the barbecue on Thursday evening was again purely vegetarian.
On Friday morning we also had a keynote by Ole Langbehn and Martin Grotzke (inoio / Entrepreneurs for Future) about "sustainable business".